Doing Business with Cultural Advantages

Residents in Ho Chi Minh City along with tourists have been given another option for the demand of tourism and eating/drinking services when Thao Dien Village—a tourist service centre—officially opens in District 2.
Duong Tan Hoai - the owner of Thao Dien Village and the chain of well-known Ngon restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, said in the press that Thao Dien Village, which will appreciate cultural elements and invest in the niche market, will likely succeed despite the large investment and its short operation of only 10 years.

While being relatively successful in operating the Ngon restaurant chain in Hochiminh City and Hanoi, why did you decide to invest in tourist service centre?
Thao Dien Village is my long-nurtured dream. With 20 years working in the travel industry, I have many chances of travelling and learning. I want to establish a space of tourism business in my own way.

The network of Ngon restaurants is now popular and operates stably. However, for me it is just a market where people come to eat and drink, not a model of tourism I am heading to.

Why did you choose the heart of Ho Chi Minh City to invest in a luxurious tourism service centre?
The target customers of Thao Dien Village are business people in Ho Chi MinhCity or neighbouring areas, or MICE travellers. As they do not have time for long-distance trips, it only takes them one day or a few hours to stay here and enjoy the fresh air and food.

Thao Dien Village does not aim at hotel service but cultural service, especially eating and drinking and other deluxe tourism services.

Why are you so confident with this business model?
There are about 6,000 foreigners staying in the neighbouring Thao Dien and An Phu Districts. Before the decision of investment we had small interviews with these people and found that they all wished to have a place to hold outdoor or indoor parties, clubs, weddings, or simply receiving guests.

As for international or local MICE tourists to Ho Chi MinhCity, they also need another option. Thao Dien Village is only 7 kilometres far from the city centre so it can be convenient to stay here and travel to the city for conferences or partner meeting. If guests request, we are willing to pick them up by car or hi-speed boats at Bach Dang Harbour within only 15 minutes.

Furthermore, international organisations and companies in Ho Chi MinhCity have a need for such a tourism service centre such as Thao Dien Village to hold events, conventions, company parties, guest reception, etc.

We also think about cooperating with travel agents to bring eating and drinking service to tourists, especially foreign visitors.

Such food and tourist areas as Van Thanh and Binh Quoi have already existed in Ho Chi Minh City. How will Thao Dien Village compete?
These places incline to serve community customers. Meanwhile, our target group of customers are smaller, only those who live in Ho Chi MinhCity or short-trip tourists.

Thao Dien Village builds its strength on the platform of eating, drinking, and culture. In addition to Vietnamese restaurants, we also have Thai, Italian, and Japanese restaurants led by foreign chefs with different service styles. Even ingredients to cook dishes and prepare drinks are imported from these countries to assure the highest standards so as to recreate for customers the typical cultural space of those countries.

We also set up a large-scale water puppet stage here to help audience feel like they are on a field trip to explore the culture of Vietnam.

Investing more than VND50 billion in hiring land, construction and decoration for only 10-year operation, are you too adventurous…?
When building Thao Dien Village, we wish to enrich tourism in Ho Chi MinhCity. In my calculation, we will take back our investment within three years if usage productivity reaches 30 per cent.

After one month of pilot operation, the usage productivity is 20 per cent, a small loss compared to the initial investment. However, if the economy rebounds and business and tourism activities become lively like in 2007, and with some strong advertising, the productivity of 30 - 40 per cent is within our reach. Ho Chi MinhCity is receiving more than 2 million international guests every year. If only a small part of them visits Thao Dien Village, we will earn a considerable source of revenue.